


Burnout

by linatrinch



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Humor, Love at First Sight, M/M, Street Racing, almost totally crack really, flustered!Finn, flustered!Poe, i meant for this to be serious and sexy and oops, rated M only for the illegal activity and nothing else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 12:47:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11737371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linatrinch/pseuds/linatrinch
Summary: Small time street racer Poe Dameron meets Finn at a local diner one night, the love between them going straight from budding to full bloom in an instant. Too bad they're suddenly oblivioius to everyone except each other now. When will the honeymoon phase end already? Well, it'll take a lot longer than one night.





	Burnout

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing a lot of Need For Speed again lately, so blame it on that. I mentioned an AU idea of this to some buddies, and it just got out of hand. I never expected it to go in this direction, but here it is. (I'll get back to other stuff next weekend, sorry!)
> 
> I apologize to all Mazda owners, by the way.
> 
> Oh and dear God no this is not how street racing is in real life, I know that, okok. It's all very illegal, kids. Poe's not cool. Thanks, fam.

Finn had a big test coming up next Friday and to say he was stressed would be a vast understatement. It wasn't really a particularly important test really. It was just on something he _really_ wasn't familiar with. He had missed classes the week before due to a fever and now he was behind on pretty much everything.

It wasn't something particularly hard. He could understand what he was looking at, but it was to figure out and memorize all of the parts.

Why did he ever think engineering would be fun? It was an interesting field, certainly, but not when all of the words were blending together. He had only a week to make sense of everything he had missed _and_ keep up with whatever new material the professor would give them before the test.

A fresh cup of coffee was sat down beside him. “You can go home without me, you know. I'll hitch a ride with Rose.”

“I know,” Finn murmured back absently, highlighting another sentence in his textbook. “I focus better in public, though. Too quiet at home.”

Rey huffed from behind the counter, her uniform pink blouse making her seem very nonthreatening. He couldn't blame her for the act, though. It was nearly ten in the evening, and he was taking up space at the bar of the local 24/7 diner. Rey, his roommate, worked from when her classes ended to midnight, so Finn had taken it upon himself to keep her company so that he could get some serious studying in. And it wasn't _really_ like he was taking up space for customers when there were only five other patrons in the restaurant.

“You're still getting over the head cold,” she told him with a well-meaning glare. “You don't want it to come back, do you?”

He grimaced. “God, no. But I- I gotta study, Rey. It's important.”

“Uh-huh,” Rey sighed, picking up a few dishes further down the bar from someone who had left without Finn even noticing. “Mister Dean's List needs to study. Mister 4.0 GPA is worried about his grades.”

Finn rolled his eyes. “Of course I am. How do you think I _stay_ on the Dean's List? Playing X-Box?”

“You work hard, Finn,” she said, basically tossing all of the dishes into a pan with a loud clatter so they could be taken in the back for cleaning. “Too hard. You need a break.”

“I _just_ took a break.”

“Bathroom breaks don't count.”

“I meant the entire _week_ I missed of school,” he answered, turning a page so hard that he almost ripped it out of the book. “Or did you forget bringing home dinner every night?”

She groaned. “You were _sick_ , Finn. That doesn't count. The test isn't until the end of the week. It's Saturday night. Please, go do something fun. You're making yourself miserable. You're making _me_ miserable.”

“I'm fine, Rey.”

Before she could snap back some sort of answer to his admittedly poor rebuttal, a loud engine revving up outside cut off the conversation. Finn turned around in his seat to watch a black muscle car purr itself into a parking spot outside of the front windows and he grimaced again. It was no secret that the town had a reputation for a lot of street racing, but he would have appreciated it if they had knocked it off while he'd been trying to sleep when he was sick. Some of the engines didn't have to be _that_ loud for them to go so fast, but he knew it was more of a pissing contest than anything. He couldn't stand the street racers.

Then someone got out of the car, closed the door, walked into the light, and Finn had to hold back a gasp. “Oh no.” The guy was _gorgeous_. No. That's no fair.

Rey hummed from behind him and called back into the kitchens. “Rose! Poe's here!”

“Poe?” Finn asked, watching the older man walk into the diner with a smile. He quickly turned back around to face forward and hiss whispers at Rey. “Who? Who is he? Who's Poe?”

“Huh?” she looked back at him, bewildered. “All the time you spend in here and you haven't met him yet? He's in here almost as often as you are.”

That didn't answer his question. It just provided _more_ questions. “Wha-”

The stupidly handsome man – Poe – dropped his keys on the bar beside Finn. “Hey, Rey. How's work tonight?” Oh, he had one of those low gravelly voices and a cute little smirk. Finn stared up at him, unaware of himself, counting the other man's eyelashes.

“Can't complain,” she shrugged. “I told Rose you were here. How's the car?”

“Fixed,” he sighed with relief. “Turned out it wasn't the transmission. That damn thing had me stumped- Oh, hey!” Finn flinched as Poe smiled down at the open textbook in front of them. “That's a jet engine, yeah?” he asked, poking his finger against the diagram of various parts for said jet engine. “I love planes. What are you studying?” Then he finally looked at him and they made eye contact.

All air left his body, but Finn did his best to play it cool. “Engineering,” he answered lamely, hardly breathing out the answer.

Poe didn't answer back right away either, though. His smile had frozen and slowly gotten brighter. For the time being, they just stared at each other.

Rose finally came out of the back, folding a jacket over her arms. “Here you go, Poe. Bastian said something about not pulling on the stitches again. I told him you tore it, but he seemed to think-... Poe?”

Standing beside her, Rey just put her hands on her hips and tilted her head at the silent display going on in front of her. “Huh,” she slowly said to herself, only just then realizing the possibilities of what had been in front of her the entire time.

Eventually, at long last, Poe finally seemed to have heard him and kind of jerked in place. “Ah- Engineering? That's cool. That's- That's awesome! That's amazing. Um-” He tried to very inconspicuously wipe the palm of his hand against his jeans before offering it, not that Finn seemed to notice. “I'm Poe.”

Finn opened his mouth, closed it, cleared his throat, and reached out carefully to shake Poe's hand. “Finn.”

The other man's smile only got that much wider. “Finn? That's a great name. That's-” He also stopped to clear his throat. “It's nice to meet you.”

… Okay, now they were just holding hands.

Rose blinked at the scene. “What's happening? What am I witnessing?”

“I'm getting diabetes,” Rey groaned to herself before stepping forward. “Poe, your jacket.”

“My jacket,” Poe happily repeated, not bringing himself out of Finn's eyes for a second. Then he blinked and snapped out of it. “My jacket! My jacket. I- I came here for-” He _finally_ dropped Finn's hand to take said jacket from Rose's outstretched arms. He nearly buried his face in it, clearly knowing that he was red as a cherry. “Thanks, um- Tell Bastian that I said thanks.”

“Of course,” Rose nodded, but it must have gone unheard because his eyes had darted back to Finn again. She leaned towards Rey. “I never would have guessed.”

“I'm kicking myself for not guessing sooner,” Rey muttered back, but she probably could have been talking into a loud speaker and been ignored.

Poe wrapped the jacket around his arms several times, probably to the point that it was cutting off circulation. “So, um- Are you, uh-” He cleared his throat again. “So, what do you-”

“I'm single,” Finn blurted out.

Rey slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing while Rose had to turn away and shake her head.

On the other hand, Poe seemed entirely unphased and merely lit up like a Christmas tree. “Really? I, uh- I'm-” Poe _giggled_ , and Rey had to turn away, too. “Wha- What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Nothing,” Finn answered with a huge smile. “Why? Are you doing anything?”

Poe shrugged. “You wanna... hang out?”

“Yes!” the other yelled, flinched, and caught himself. “Yes, I- Yes. I'd love to. Yes.”

“Great.” There were honest to God _stars_ shining in Poe's eyes. “That's great. I- I have to go. I've got stuff and, um- stuff.” He nodded at the door, mind apparently blank. “I'll, uh, see you tomorrow? Here? Same time?”

Finn smiled wide, clutching his textbook for dear life. “Absolutely.”

“Great,” Poe breathed again, backing out of the restaurant slowly, not even allowing himself to break eye contact with Finn. “I'll- I'll see you... then. Tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Finn replied.

“Door,” Rey said.

“Door,” Poe repeated right before running into the door. He jerked, scrambled, and finally opened it himself, laughing and smiling back at Finn, face red again.

They waved at each other as he _finally_ left the diner, nearly tripping over himself as he got back into the car.

Finn, who had his textbook clutched to his chest and a smile permanently etched on his face, watched until the black car pulled out of the parking lot until slowly turning back to Rey and Rose. The latter was laughing so hard that she had tears running down her face. The former was looking at him with a fond, smug grin. It took him a full second to register exactly _what_ had just happened. He looked at his textbook, out the window, then back to Rey, panic welling up now.

Did he just score a date with a street racer?

With a _street racer_?

He looked out the window again and back to Rey. “What just happened?”

“So that was Poe,” Rey said conversationally, “and it looks like you've got a date with him tomorrow.”

They didn't even exchange numbers. He didn't even know his last name. He didn't have anything to wear! And he was a street racer and it was set for so late and Finn hadn't spared even a second thought when the conversation had gone down. He just... _did that_.

“Oh.” This was bad. “I can't believe that just happened.”

“It's okay,” Rose laughed, finally finding her voice again. “Poe's sweet. You'll have fun.”

Sweet? Finn pouted. He was pretty sweet, wasn't he? He seemed so _nice_.

Oh, this was _bad_.

* * *

In the end, Finn still felt like he had absolutely _nothing_ to wear. He had thrown on his most expensive pair of jeans and a clean shirt in the _hopes_ that it would be okay. Being a college student meant that he wasn't exactly made of money at the moment. Rey gave him a thumbs up, so that had to count for something.

Still, he couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. He was going out on a date with a guy he didn't know. Was it even a date? Bah, anyway, all he knew was that Poe was a street racer or at least had the same kind of obnoxious car as a street racer, so when exactly had Finn been taken in? He blamed the eyelashes.

Despite him trying really hard to think badly of Poe in any context, Finn found that he was really nervous while waiting in the diner. He fiddled with his fingers while Rey bussed tables, her eerily emo cousin leaning against the counter not too far away from him. It wasn't that Finn and Ben weren't on speaking terms. It was just that he couldn't find any words to _say_. He was so scared. What if Poe never showed up? What if he did and had a change of heart over night? What if he was suddenly a totally different person from what Finn expected? What if he turned out to be a cocky jerk like all of the other street racers? Like _Ben_ who had his little piece of crap Mazda sitting outside. What if he was just like _Ben_?

He had missed studying for this. He had been way too nervous since meeting Poe to get _any_ studying done and now he was really screwed.

The same engine purred into the same parking spot outside, and Finn nearly hid himself beneath a table. “Rey!”

“I know,” she laughed, refilling someone's coffee before walking back behind the bar. “Stop freaking out. This is the exact kind of break you needed.”

“No, it's not,” he whined. “Does my shirt look okay? Is there anything in my teeth?”

“You look fine.”

“Just fine?”

Rey groaned. “He sure is taking his sweet time. Look, Finn, you look great. He won't be able to take his eyes off of you. I promise.”

Finn whined again, deep in the back of his throat. Rey couldn't see from behind the counter, but she was pretty sure his leg was jumping several beats a second. “What if he's changed his mind? What if he doesn't like me? What if it's not a date? He's probably just excited to talk about engineering stuff, right? Maybe he's a student, too. He said something about planes. I don't know anything about planes. I mean, I _know_ about planes, but I don't _know know_ about planes. What if he asks me something? I won't know the answer. I'll choke. I'll look so stupid.”

“Finn-”

“Who's he freaking out over?” Ben asked, slinking closer over to the pair. He almost sounded concerned, but Ben wasn't the type to admit to such a thing.

Rey sighed. “Poe. They met last night.”

Ben's eyebrow raised up and did a little dance. “Poe? Wait a minute. He was supposed-”

The door opened, and the trio turned around to see Poe standing at the entrance. He cleaned up nicely, wearing the jacket Bastian repaired for him over a button up shirt.

Rey's attention was pulled back to Finn as he nearly fell right out of the bar stool and kind of shuffled forward a little. “Hi,” he said, not breathing.

Poe, on the other hand, was stuck somewhere between beaming delight and pure terror. Great. They were _both_ nervous. “Hi,” he said back with a big smile. “You, uh- You look- You- I've-”

The nerves seemed to hit an eleven as Finn fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “I look okay?”

“What?” the other blinked. “Of course! Yes! You- You look amazing. You look- You're incredible. You _look_ incredible. You look- I was- I- You look great, buddy.”

Ben leaned closer to Rey, a near disgusted look on his face even though he seemed to be unable to look away from the train wreck happening in front of them. “Rey, what am I looking at?”

“They've got a date,” she answered back with a smile.

Finn, smile wide once again, seemed to gain a little more confidence. “You look great, too. I like your jacket.”

“You do?” Poe's eyes were _sparkling_ again, wide and dilated enough to reflect the diner's soft lighting and flash it around for all to see. “Thank you! I- I like it, too. I mean-” He stopped to laugh at himself. “Thanks.”

“I'm going to gag,” Ben muttered with a deep scowl and stepped forward before Rey could grab him. “Uh, hate to break this party up, but you- Hey, are you listening to me?” The pair hadn't heard him yet, stuck in their own world again as Rey ran out from behind the counter. “Poe!”

It took a second, but Poe blinked, jerked, and looked over at the new comer. “Oh, Ben. Hey. What are you doing here?”

Rey was at her cousin's side now. “Yes, _Ben_ what are you doing here? Don't you have somewhere better to be?” He was about to ruin this perfect little date for Finn, and she wasn't about to let that happen.

“Yes,” he nearly growled, “and so does Poe in about twenty minutes.”

Poe blinked up at him. “Twenty minutes?”

Ben just groaned. “The _race_? From Millwood to Gold? The three _thousand_ dollars?”

The other man was already sputtering. “ _What?_ I- That's _tonight_? That can't be tonight!”

“It's tonight,” Ben huffed, crossing his arms. “Are you in or out, Dameron?”

Meanwhile, Finn looked like he was very close to being on the verge of tears. “You're... going to a race?” Even Rey's heart kind of broke at the crack in his voice.

“No!” Poe yelled in Finn's general direction in a panic before turning to Ben. “No! I'm out! Tell them I'm out. I forfeit.”

Now Ben was sputtering at a loss. “ _Forfeit?_ You can't _forfeit_! It's three thousand dollars!”

“Well, I just did! I'm out!”

“You can't _be_ out!”

“You-” Finn's small voice broke through the argument, and Poe turned back to him. “You're throwing the race for me?”

The other looked at him with big hopeful eyes. “We had a date planned.”

 _And_ now Finn's eyes were sparkling.

While Ben tried to not rip his hair out, Rey sighed. “You could always... _both_ go to the race?” She knew about Finn's utter and complete hatred for all of the street racers within the five hundred mile radius, but it was still a lot of money. _Illegal_ , yeah, but all the same.

What she didn't expect was Finn jumping in so quickly. “I can go! I'll cheer for you!”

Poe gave a soft gasp. “You'd cheer for me?”

Rey clapped a hand to her forehead.

“Yes, great, good,” Ben butted in. “Now let's go or it really will be forfeit.”

Breaking out of his temporary stupor, Poe looked from Ben and back to Finn. “I- No. No, I wanna spend my date with _you_ , not alone in a car.”

If Rey were inclined to look closer, she'd probably see tiny hearts dancing above her roommate's head. Ben groaned, leaning back to glare at the ceiling. Before he could say anything, Finn was already responding. “I can ride with you during the race.”

Rey choked on thin air. “I didn't suggest _that_.”

“Not sure about that idea,” Ben answered with a glower back down at them.

And then there was Poe. “You'd do that?” Finn nodded furiously, and the other man lit up again. “Okay! That sounds great! We'll have fun!”

Ben's eyes almost bugged out of his head. “ _Fun!?_ It's dangerous with _one_ person! Let alone two-” Poe and Finn clasped hands and started giggling their way to the door. “Hey, no, wait a minute! Wait! _Poe!_ ” They both stopped and looked back at him. “Don't you think Finn's going to be a _distraction_ during the race?”

They blinked back, and Poe grinned. “Oh God, I _hope_ so.” Finn blushed heavily and smiled back at him, then they were gone.

The remaining pair watched as the two very happily got into the car and drove off.

Ben turned a glare on Rey.

She blinked at him and glanced around before wandering away. “Mister Johnson! Do you need more tea? I'll get you a refill.”

* * *

The car wasn't entirely black actually. It had orange stripes on the side that really managed to accent the sharp edges of the car. Finn really hoped to see it in daylight one of these days. He knew it had to be beautiful since the inside was basically meticulous.

Maybe Finn didn't have much love for the whole street racing scene, but he could appreciate a well loved car as much as anyone else.

“A Challenger, right? It's newer than the 2014 model.”

Poe smiled wide from the driver's seat, going just slightly over the speed limit as they neared the destination. “2015, actually. How did you know?”

“Just-” Finn shrugged, a little nervous and shy again. “The mods you used on the steering wheel wouldn't have worked on an older model.”

“Oh, that's right!” Poe answered, his smile growing wider. “Good eye, buddy. That's amazing.”

Finn felt his face grow hot again but couldn't keep his own smile off of his face. “How, uh- How's the handling? Wouldn't it be harder with all the weight?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Poe chuckled, happy as a clam. “I'm used to it, but I worked a ton on the steering and brakes.”

“You work on it yourself?”

“I work at a garage, yeah.”

“Really? That's awesome!”

“You think so!?” Before Poe could melt into a puddle, they came up on the crowd and line of cars. “Oh, we're here.” In all honesty, he was kind of disappointed. Yeah, racing was a big part of his current life, but he didn't want to throw Finn into the deep end as soon as they met. “You sure you're okay with this, buddy? Have you been to one of these before?”

Finn shook his head. “I haven't been. But I hear you guys racing all the time.”

He was so happy and genuine when he said it that Poe couldn't help but melt just a _little_ more. “You do? We're not too loud, are we?”

“No! No,” Finn answered quickly but quickly glanced away. “Well, not usually. I was sick not long ago and I couldn't get to sleep-”

He probably could have stabbed Poe and it would have hurt less. “ _What?_ You were sick! I'm so sorry!” As if there was anything he could have done. As if he could have known. As if Finn was the only sick person in the whole town.

“No, it's okay!” Finn said, turning the smile back on him again. “I got better.”

“Oh good,” he answered, as if that wasn't _obvious_. God, Finn made him so dumb, but he loved every second of it.

There was a knocking on the driver's side window, and Poe startled before turning around and rolling the window down. “Hey, Karé!”

“Hey, Poe,” his friend answered, ducking down enough to see inside the car and look curiously at Finn. “Who's your friend here?”

“This is Finn!” Poe announced proudly.

Another person laughed outside and Snap ducked his head down to see. “So, _this_ is Finn.”

“Who's Finn?” Karé asked him, still looking at the kid.

Snap just chuckled beside her and pulled out his phone. “You know Rey at the diner? He's her roommate.”

“Oh, Ben's cousin?” she asked, looking at the phone as he showed her some text messages from Poe dated as the night before.

_-and he's an engineering student! He was studying in some text books when I met him. He was reading about planes! I love planes! He was so nice, man. He was really sweet. And he's so gorgeous. Like pretty and beautiful and everything. And he seems to actually like me or something? That's so wild! But he's so nice and so smart and we're going on a date, like I've got a DATE! I didn't get his number, I totally blanked out, but we got a date planned and I'm so excited that I could burst I could sing I could throw this toaster through a window I can't wait to see him he's so amazing-_

Karé looked back into the car with an unphased smile. “Nice to meet you, Finn. Poe and I work together.”

“It's nice to meet you, too,” he responded happily with a truly dazzling smile.

Poe finally interjected. “And this is Snap. I've been friends with him since high school.”

Snap chuckled. “You might know me as Temmin, actually.”

“Oh!” Finn's eyes lit up in recognition. “Yeah, Rey's talked about you! You're friends with Bastian, yeah?”

Before Snap could answer, Poe jumped in again. “You know Bastian? Then you must know Jess, right?”

“Jess Pava? Yeah, I know her! She's working as a nurse at the clinic now.”

“Yeah! I grew up with her, too!”

“Really!?"

“Small world,” Karé muttered while Snap laughed beside her. “So, Finn, what brings you out here tonight?”

They both answered at the same time. “We're on a date!”

She blinked at the pair, a little lost. This wasn't really the proper place for that... “A date?”

They both nodded, but Poe answered. “He's going to ride with me during the race.”

Karé frowned, giving roughly the same expression that Ben had. “I don't know if that's a good idea.”

Snap's chuckles had died down, too. “Why? You won't win if you're distracted like that.”

“No!” Finn announced very seriously. “We're going to win! The money's ours!”

“Yeah!” Poe shouted, too. “We're gonna win! We got this!”

“We got this!”

“ _We got this!_ ”

Karé groaned. This was hardly the right scene for budding love, which was clearly what she was seeing. “This is a bad idea,” she sighed. “We should stop them.”

“How?” her boyfriend laughed. “Don't you hear them? They got this.”

She gave him a mocking glare before sighing and letting it go. “Yeah, okay. Poe.” Instead of looking at her, the two love birds were giving goo-goo eyes to each other. “Poe.” They giggled, blushed, ducked their heads. She loved him, really, but dear lord. “Poe.”

“Hey, lover boy!” Snap yelled, banging a hand against the top of the car one good time.

They finally jerked apart. Poe looked at them, red in the face, knowing he'd been caught. Karé just let it slide. “You're third on the starting line, sweetheart. Race starts soon.”

“Oh! Yeah, okay! Thank you!” With that, they slowly drove ahead.

Karé just watched after the Challenger with a sigh. “The race isn't that long, right? This isn't the _worst_ idea he's ever had.”

“He's had some pretty bad ideas,” Snap grumbled beside her, “but I think he'll be okay... Unless he starts trying to show off.”

She just groaned again.

Poe easily stopped the car right on the line and started to point out the other racers and explain everything. “I know it sounds like a lot of money, but it really isn't for these sorts of things. I just try to stay with the lower crowd, because the more money involved means more trouble. But anyway, all of the guys in this line are pretty good people. And there's Ben down at the end pulling in now. We'll start here and finish around that pet adoption place over on Gold. Whoever comes first wins the money. Everyone else gets nothing. And we start when Karé tells us to go. You got all that?”

“Yeah,” Finn chuckled happily in the passenger's seat, absolutely in love with listening to Poe chatter about something he enjoyed.

The other man bit his bottom lip, once again teetering on the option of ditching the entire race. “If you wanna stop or need me to slow down or something at any point, you just tell me, okay?”

Finn looked shocked and a little offended at that idea. “I'm not going to ask you to stop. No way. You're going to win. I know it.”

Poe's breath stuttered. “I don't win them all, Finn. I don't want you to be disappointed.”

“I won't be!” he responded, inching closer. “I won't be. I'm already having a lot of fun. I know you'll do your best. You'll do amazing.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Poe's entire body felt lighter than air. Finn believed in him, still wanted to hang out with him whether he won or not. This was _incredible_.

Okay. No showboating. He had to focus. He had to _win_. He had to win _for Finn_. “We got this.”

“We got this,” Finn repeated, bright smile lighting up the whole car. _He's going to win!_

Oh, there's Karé. She walked out in front of the cars, turned, and held up her hands. There was a whole crowd now, and Poe hadn't been nervous over a race this badly since his very first one. He took a deep breath, so very _mindful_ of Finn sitting next to him, and watched Karé's hands drop.

And they were off.

Poe would be absolutely _lying_ if he said that the race was actually on his mind. As soon as Finn started laughing, he was gone. His focus was much more on how fast he could push his car and how long he could stay in first place, taking the turns quick and going much faster along the straight stretches than he normally would have. Okay, maybe he _was_ showboating, but Finn was laughing and whooping and _this was amazing_.

Far too soon, they crossed the finish line with no other cars ahead of them, and Poe realized that they had just won. He drove a little further away from the crowd and came to a stop at the entrance of an empty parking lot.

The car had gone silent except for Poe's heavy breathing. When he looked over to Finn, he found the other man staring back with a huge smile on his face and then- Well- He wasn't sure who jumped who first, but his lips were pressed hard against Finn's and his hands were roaming up and down the younger man's ribs, grabbing and pulling at his shirt. Finn had manuevered himself over Poe, kneeling on either side of his legs, and this position was _amazing_ , certainly, but- Poe held Finn tight and flipped them until the younger man's back was against the passenger side seat and door, which probably wasn't terribly comfortable, but he was pulling at Poe's jacket like it was the best thing in the world, so of course the older of the two had to lean in until they were practically one person, kissing the living daylights out of one another.

It was Snap who came up on them first, ready to congratulate them on their victory and hand over the money and all that good stuff. Somehow, he did not expect the sight he got. “Oh, geez,” he muttered, slapping a hand over his eyes and hearing the rest of the crowd approaching very fast. Right, okay, he was a _good_ friend. “Poe,” he said loudly, knocking a few times on the window. “Poe, hey! _Poe!_ ” He hit his palm against the top of the car again, finally startling the two of them apart. “You won, man! Wanna face your adoring fans?”

Poe blinked down at Finn, who was flushed and absolutely _beautiful_.“We won?” Wait, they did. He knew that already, right?

“We won!” Finn announced happily, smile _so_ bright. “You won, Poe! I told you!”

“We won!” Poe squealed, finally sitting up again. “We both won!”

Finn leaned in to kiss him again, lips rough against his, and Poe's hands reached around to grip at his shoulders- Snap was hitting the top of the car again, making them both jump. Oh, right, they won.

Now, typically, as these things usually go, Poe would now get out of the car, good naturedly wrestle with his buddies, maybe rub the prize money in Ben's face a little bit, probably do a victory lap or two, treat everyone in the general vicinity to shots- This time was different. This time, he rolled down the window. “Thanks, but I've got a date to go to!”

“I've- Wait, what?” Snap, shocked, just stood there with the envelope of money in his hand as the jeering crowd swarmed around them. “You're leaving?”

“Yeah,” Poe answered, grabbing the envelope. “Thanks!”

The crowd split as Ben passed through. “Hold on a second!” he shouted, ducking down to look into the car. “I know you didn't just- _Dammit, Finn!_ ”

“Hi, Ben!” the younger one in the car said, waving back happily. “I had a lot of fun! Thanks for suggesting this!”

“ _I didn't suggest it!_ ” Ben yelled, a vein popping out of his forehead.

Poe leaned out of the car and hugged him. “Thanks for reminding me about the race! It was the perfect ice breaker. I love you, man.”

“ _Get off of me!_ ”

Poe happily bounced back into the car and waved. “Bye, Snap!”

Snap raised his hand to wave back, but the car had already pulled away and was roaring down the street.

* * *

Rey had traded shifts with Rose, so she was stuck working until five the next morning. What she _expected_ was to go home to find Finn asleep. She didn't expect to come out of the kitchens with her things, ready to leave, only to see the man himself and his date sitting in a booth... still wearing the same clothes she had last seen them in.

“Oh, thank God, you're here,” Ben groaned from the bar. He had agreed to bring her home since he was supposed to be up at the same time anyway. “If I have to take one more _giggle_ from those two, I'll-” Poe giggled, and Ben cradled his face in his hands.

“Are they-?” She stopped to get a good look at them. Neither had a beverage, food, or menu, but neither seemed to care. They were sitting on opposite sides of the booth, grasping each others hands, and- “Are they playing footsie?” Not to mention staring _longingly_ at each other. There were probably invisible hearts floating by and slapping everyone in the face. Plus, the real kicker, Finn was now wearing Poe's beloved jacket.

Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we please go now? I think I'm allergic to them.”

She had gotten a text from Finn after the race with several car emojis and an announcement that they had won. She hadn't heard from him since and honestly hadn't thought too hard about that until right in that moment. “Have they-?” She gasped. “ _No_. Not on the _first date_.”

“Why did you have to put that thought in my head?”

Rey ignored him and circled around the bar, headed straight for the two love birds. “Hey, guys,” she said upon approach and... went _totally_ ignored. “Guys? Finn?”

“Oh!” Finn jerked, Poe looking to her just a beat later. Her roommate turned a huge smile on her, probably having absolutely forgotten that he had a test later that week, much less classes. “Hi, Rey! Is your shift over?”

“Yeah. I coerced Ben into taking me home,” she said, thumbing back at the bar. “How did last night go?”

“It was great!” Finn answered, eyes wide and bright. “We won a race, and then Poe took me to eat at that place by the beach that we've been wanting to try, and then we took a drive along the coast and watched the sunrise-”

“It was amazing,” Poe breathed out beside him.

That was enough to gain Finn's attention. “No, _you're_ amazing.”

Poe bit his bottom lip.

Rey was scrubbing at her eyes. “Well, that sounds nice.” She'd never seen anything like this before. They were picture perfect honeymooners, for goodness sake. As for details, she decided to drill Finn about that later.

The older of the two gave the hugest puppy dog eyes. “When, uh- When are you- When can I see you again?”

Dear lord, this wasn't some medieval rom-com.

Finn smiled wide right before it dimmed a little. “Oh, I- I have classes later today.”

“I've got work... What about tomorrow night?”

“I work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Oh,” Poe uttered, practically vibrating with the effort to _not_ start getting too emotional about it. “Um, well-”

“Next weekend!” Finn exclaimed. “Are you doing anything Saturday?”

“I gotta work on Saturday,” Poe pouted, “but I'm free on Sunday!”

She _really_ wished they would just figure it out already. “Cell phones exist, guys.”

“I'm free on Sunday, too!” the younger one exclaimed, then reached into his pocket. “Right, phones. I can get your number. You can text me.”

“I will,” Poe answered with big eyes. “I'll text you all the time.” Rey rubbed at her forehead, not doubting that for a second. “Are you doing anything Wednesday?” Poe asked.

“I don't have classes, but I'm working that evening.”

“We can do something in the morning?”

“Yeah, we can grab breakfast!”

“Rey,” Ben huffed, suddenly right beside her. “My car is leaving in the next five minutes whether you're in it or not.”

She nodded, overcome with the urge to leave as well. She was really happy for Finn, but living with this was going to be a whole other situation. “Yeah, I hear you. I'm on the way.” Ben nodded back and walked off, so Rey turned to the lovers. “I'm headed home. I'll see you two later, okay? Finn, you need to sleep before classes.”

“I know. I'll drive home soon,” he answered, looking up to her and back down to his phone. “Okay. So. We'll text each other. And I'll see you this Wednesday.”

Rey gave a happy sigh and left the restaurant.

Poe just nodded back, eyes still lit up but face very serious. “I'll text you,” he repeated, “and we'll grab breakfast on Wednesday. What do you wanna do on Sunday?”

Finn considered his options and bit his bottom lip, much like Poe had done all night. His date blushed heavily and laughed, their legs practically twining together again. “We'll think of something.”

“Yeah, we will.”

“I'll see you later, Poe?”

“I'll see you later, Finn.”

It took another ten minutes for them to finally go their separate ways.

**Author's Note:**

> That was a lot longer than intended. I also cut out a whole section of them going back to Poe's house and making out on his bed, so take that as you will.
> 
> I don't know what else to say about it. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading. ♥


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